Y Combinator just published its seasonal Request for Startups — calling for founders to build in areas like internal agent tools, robotics software, scientific discovery engines, and voice interfaces. So we rolled up our sleeves and mapped 200+ standout startups tackling these categories.

To be entirely honest 🤐, we used our AI Agent to dive into those 14 distinct categories and do the heavy lifting. It was built precisely to streamline this type of research.

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AI Assistants for Email

  • EmailTree AI: automates email replies and boosts productivity in customer support. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Andrei Roth. Their NLP-powered solution streamlines complex workflows in enterprise environments. They’ve raised $5.5M, most recently $2.85M, from investors like Xavier Buck, InnovX, and Growceanu.
  • HeyLibby: helps small businesses automate lead capture and qualification with a no-code AI assistant. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by David Galownia. Empowers service-driven SMBs to convert inbound leads instantly. They’ve raised $4.5M, with the full amount from their latest round, backed by Spencer Rascoff and Vertical Venture Partners.
  • Twain: an AI communication assistant that improves email tone, clarity, and persuasion for sales teams. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Jared Fesler. Helps users write more human and effective outreach, enhancing cold email performance. They’ve raised $4.55M, including $4M in their last round, from Sequoia Capital and Nicolaus Schefenacker.
  • Fyxer: an AI-powered executive assistant platform for inbox and workflow delegation. Early Stage. Founded by Richard Hollingsworth. Blends software with human experts to scale virtual assistance for executives. They’ve raised $10M, with all funding coming in their most recent round, from investors like Marc Benioff and The Twenty Minute VC.
  • Lavender: an AI email coach for sales teams, giving real-time feedback to increase reply rates. Early Stage. Founded by Will Allred and William Ballance. Widely adopted in SDR workflows to optimize cold outreach performance. They’ve raised $13.2M, including $11M in the latest round, backed by Position Ventures, Troy Osinoff, and Alex Lieberman.

AI Personal Assistant

  • PatternAI: a conversational intelligence platform for sales teams, offering AI-powered call transcription and deal insights. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Greg Tapper. Enables faster, more effective sales coaching through real-time analytics. They’ve raised $6.55M, including $1.1M in their latest round, backed by Half Court Ventures.
  • Hints: an AI-powered CRM assistant that automates data entry by turning chat messages into structured CRM updates. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by George Levin. Built to reduce admin work for sales teams and improve CRM hygiene. They’ve raised $2.5M, fully committed in their latest round from investors like AltaIR Capital and Startup Lisboa.
  • Style DNA: a personal AI stylist that offers wardrobe and shopping recommendations based on user preferences and body data. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Elena Volkova. Targets fashion e-commerce conversion and personalization. They’ve raised $3.95M, including $1.42M recently from Black River Ventures and Business Angel Cyprus.
  • Avoma: an AI Meeting Assistant for automated note-taking, summarization, and action items in customer meetings. Early Stage. Founded by Aditya Kothadiya and Devendra Laulkar. Popular among SaaS and remote-first teams for boosting post-meeting productivity. They’ve raised $15M, with $12M in the most recent round from TSVC, Industry Ventures, and others.
  • Limitless: builds a personalized AI memory assistant that captures and indexes user information across tools. Early Stage. Founded by Brett Bejcek, Dan Siroker, and Paul Stamatiou. Positioned as a cognitive prosthetic to reduce digital overload. They’ve raised $27.89M, including $17.89M in their last round from Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital.

AI Personal Tutor for Everyone

  • Rocky: an AI-powered coaching app for personal development and soft skills training. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Harry Novic. Designed for individuals seeking continuous learning in leadership and communication. They've raised $776K, with $406K in their latest round from Techstars, Jenson Funding Partners, and Bootstrap Europe.
  • Snorble: a smart AI companion for children that delivers personalized learning and bedtime routines. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Doug Hughes and Mike Rizkalla. Aims to blend entertainment and education in a child-safe format. They've raised $8M, with participation from Legendary Ventures and FINESTLOVE VC.
  • Magma Learning: provides adaptive AI tutoring using spaced repetition and memory-enhancing algorithms. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Leïla Haegel and Maxime Gabella. Focuses on individualized learning and knowledge retention. They've raised $65K, most recently $55K, from Venture Kick and FIT Digital.
  • Loora: an AI English tutor offering real-time conversational practice for non-native speakers. Early Stage. Founding team is Roy Mor and Yonti Levin. Helps professionals boost fluency and confidence through AI-driven dialogue. They've raised $21.25M, including $12M in their last round from Hearst Ventures and Emerge Ventures.
  • Enki: delivers personalized 1:1 AI coaching and microlearning for workplace skills. Early Stage. Founded by Kirill Makharinsky. Used by teams and individuals to upskill in areas like data, no-code, and soft skills. They've raised $5.5M, including $2.5M in the latest round from Remote First Capital and I2BF Global Ventures.

AI Research Labs

  • Linkup: connects AIs to the internet for real-time knowledge access and execution. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Boris Toledano, Denis Charrier, and Philippe Mizrahi. Powers multi-agent coordination with a plug-and-play architecture. They've raised $3.18M, all in their most recent round, from Seedcamp, Axeleo Capital, and Financière Saint James.
  • iAsk Ai: an advanced AI search engine delivering precise answers using proprietary models. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Bradford Folkens and Dominik Mazur. Designed for high-accuracy Q&A in sensitive use cases. They've raised $5.72M, all in their last round, with support from Chicago Early Growth Ventures and Eddie Lou.
  • Insilicom: offers AI-driven analytics solutions for bioinformatics and Big Data. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Jinfeng Zhang. Aims to transform healthcare R&D and personalized medicine through intelligent systems. They've raised $225K, fully backed by the National Science Foundation.
  • Jina AI: builds neural search infrastructure optimized for generative AI workflows. Early Stage. Founded by Han Xiao and Nan Wang. Their open-source framework underpins vector search, fine-tuning, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). They've raised $37.5M, including $30M in their latest round from Canaan Partners, GGV Capital, and SAP.iO.
  • Exa: is building a next-gen search engine optimized for precision and depth in professional use. Early Stage. Founded by Jeffrey Wang and Will Bryk. Combines large context windows with a refined UI for better enterprise decision-making. They've raised $22M, with $17M from their most recent round backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Y Combinator.

AI Residential Security

  • Sauron: develops a home security platform that integrates smart devices and autonomous surveillance capabilities. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Jack Abraham and Kevin Hartz. Designed to reduce false alerts and enhance real-time monitoring. They've raised $18M in a single round backed by Atomic, 8VC, A*, and Liquid 2 Ventures.
  • InstaVision Inc: provides AI-powered smart safety and surveillance systems tailored for residential environments. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Yamin Durrani. Offers scalable and intelligent video analytics to reduce home intrusion risks. They've raised $5M, all in their most recent round.
  • Kuna: an app-based home security platform featuring smart outdoor lighting with embedded cameras. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Haomiao Huang and Sai-Wai Fu. Offers homeowners proactive prevention with two-way audio and motion alerts. They've raised $120K, backed by Y Combinator.
  • Faceter: a video surveillance platform using AI and blockchain to deliver private and distributed home security. Early Stage. Founded by Robert Pothier and Vladimir Tchernitski. Aims to decentralize surveillance with edge intelligence. They've raised $28.6M, all in a single round, with backing from JaMes Sowers.
  • Qiara: a next-generation alarm and surveillance system using AI to prevent crime before it happens. Early Stage. Founded by Alexis Bidinot. Offers predictive security using behavioral recognition and smart alerts. They've raised $15.47M, backed by Iliad and Xavier Niel.

AI for Personal Finance

  • Parthean: automates financial management using AI to offer personalized financial education and planning. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Arman Hezarkhani. It combines actionable advice with real-time finance tracking for a holistic view of users' money lives. They've raised $1.1M from Gaingels, Pareto Holdings, and others.
  • Sequence: is a fintech platform that uses AI to help businesses manage spend, treasury, and real-time financial ops. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Oona Rokyta and Tom Reuveni. Positioned as the command center for next-gen finance teams. They've raised $5.5M from Aleph and Third Summit Capital.
  • Gradient: delivers an AI-powered Data Reasoning Platform to automate financial insights and decision-making. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Chris Chang, Forrest Moret, and Mark Kim-Huang. Their model enhances financial analytics workflows with AI-native infrastructure. They've raised $10M from backers including Airtable, Pinterest, and MOTIVE.
  • CoPilot: is an AI-driven platform transforming the car buying experience by matching buyers with ideal vehicles and financing. Early Stage. Founded by Pat Ryan. Cuts through dealer complexity with pricing intelligence and human-AI chat. They've raised $45M, including $23M in the most recent round from SciFi VC and Chicago Ventures.
  • Your Money Line: provides AI-enhanced financial wellness benefits to employees, including coaching and real-time support. Early Stage. Founded by Ratan Kumar. Helps employers boost retention and productivity through financial health. They've raised $7.33M, with $4.5M coming in their last round from Elevate Ventures and Allos Ventures.

AI for Scientific Advancement

  • JADBio: automates the machine learning process for life sciences, enabling domain experts to build predictive models without coding. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Ioannis Tsamardinos and Pavlos Charonyktakis. Used for biomarker discovery and diagnostics in genomics and biomedical research. They've raised $2.12M, with a latest round of $341K.
  • Quantistry: offers an intuitive cloud-native chemical simulation platform powered by AI. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Marcel Quennet. Helps R&D teams model reactions and materials faster than traditional quantum chemistry tools. They've raised $3.28M, with backing from Ananda Impact Ventures, IBB Ventures, and Chemovator.
  • 310.ai: is building a generative AI engine for programmatic biology, automating design of biological functions and genetic circuits. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Kooshiar Azimian. Their platform aims to transform bioengineering through automation. They've raised $3.78M, including $3.7M in their most recent round from AVV and Cota Capital.
  • ENPICOM: develops bioinformatics software to accelerate antibody and T-cell discovery for biologics. Early Stage. Founded by Alvise Trevisan, Jos Lunenberg, and Nicola Bonzanni. Widely adopted by biopharma for immune repertoire analysis. They've raised $1.36M, fully raised in their most recent round from ACE Incubator and NextGen Ventures.
  • Atomic AI: uses AI to uncover structure-function relationships in RNA, accelerating discovery of RNA-targeted medicines. Early Stage. Founded by Raphael Townshend. Bridging structural biology and drug discovery with a proprietary 3D RNA foundation model. They've raised $42M from AME Cloud Ventures, Not Boring, and Playground Global.

Full-stack AI

  • Advocat: automates legal document drafting and research with generative AI tailored for in-house counsel. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Chetan Desh and Pradnya Desh. It streamlines compliance-heavy workflows and improves access to legal tools. They've raised $2.62M, with early backing from Inclusive Ventures Lab and San Diego Angel Conference.
  • Clearbrief: enhances legal writing by auto-verifying citations and surfacing source documents with AI. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Jacqueline Schafer. Used by litigators to ensure accuracy and persuasiveness in court filings. They've raised $6.49M, including $2.99M in their latest round from Amy Weaver, Jack Newton, and Reign Ventures.
  • Crespect: is a legal practice management suite powered by AI for law firms and solo practitioners. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Karolina Šilingienė, Katri-Helen Wojtkowiak, and Lina Mockutė. Centralizes contracts, clients, billing, and case analytics. They've raised $1.66M, with $751K recently from the European Commission.
  • Hyperbots: creates AI finance assistants to automate internal financial operations. Early Stage. Founding team is Rajeev Pathak, Ram Jayaraman, Niyati Chhaya. Targets CFOs and accounting teams with plug-and-play automation. They've raised $2M from Kalaari Capital, Athera Ventures, and SunICON Ventures.
  • Numeric: provides an AI-powered platform for closing books faster and producing audit-ready documentation. Early Stage. Founded by Andrew Bihl, Anthony Alvernaz, and Parker Gilbert. Trusted by high-growth finance teams to ensure compliance and visibility. They've raised $38M, including $28M in their last round led by Socii Capital, 8VC, and Menlo Ventures.

Internal Agent Builder

  • Alan AI: a GenAI platform enabling enterprises to embed voice interfaces across internal systems and applications. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Andrey Ryabov, Blake Wheale, Gaurav Kuchhal, and Ramu Sunkara. Aims to improve enterprise productivity by enabling natural-language workflows. They've raised $9M, including $2.5M in their latest round from SymphonyAlpha Ventures and Creative Destruction Lab.
  • Noxus: an enterprise-grade platform for building and deploying autonomous internal agents. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Goncalo Ferreira, Joao Pedro Almeida, and Jorge Pereira. Offers secure, scalable deployment for internal copilots and automation. They've raised $1.7M with backing from Antler, AltaIR Capital, and I2BF Global Ventures.
  • Persona Studios: helps teams automate tasks and conversations through AI assistants tailored to business needs. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Andrew McCrow and Kevin Davis. Ideal for startups and teams aiming to reduce back-office friction. They've raised $1.13M, including $400K from AVV and 500 Southeast Asia.
  • Datch: offers voice-first AI for frontline teams in manufacturing, logistics, and energy. Early Stage. Founded by Ben Purcell and Mark Fosdike. Bridges legacy systems and frontline staff with conversational interfaces. They've raised $31.2M, with $15M recently from Forum Ventures and Susquehanna Group.
  • SuperAGI: enables internal productivity agents that orchestrate multiple LLMs and tools for business tasks. Early Stage. Founded by Ishaan Bhola and Mukunda Srinivasagowda. Open-source and API-first, it's one of the fastest-growing internal agent builders. They've raised $10M from Kae Capital and Newlands VC.

Software Tools To Make Robots

  • Jacobi Robotics: builds modular motion planning software for robots, enabling rapid and precise control in dynamic environments. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Jeffrey Ichnowski, Ken Goldberg, and Lars Berscheid. Targets robotic arm applications in automation and manufacturing. They've raised $5M from Swift Ventures, Courtyard Ventures, and others.
  • BOW: simplifies robotics programming and deployment, empowering developers with low-code tools for automation. Pre-seed / Seed. Founding team is Nick Thompson, Tony Prescott, Richard Waterstone, and Daniel Camilleri. Bridges the robotics talent gap with intuitive interfaces for rapid prototyping. They've raised $5M from Northern Gritstone, Praetura Ventures, and others.
  • Progressive Robotics: equips robots with advanced autonomy using deep-tech software developed from university research. Pre-seed / Seed. Founding team is Fotis Dimeas and Marios Kiatos. Aims to make industrial robots smarter and more adaptive. They've raised $1.65M from Genesis Ventures and Marathon VC.
  • Apera AI: delivers 4D Vision systems for high-speed, high-precision robotic applications in manufacturing. Early Stage. Founded by Armin Khatoonabadi and Sina Afrooze. Their tech brings human-level perception to industrial robots. They've raised $11.76M from BDC Capital and Lobby Capital.
  • Augmentus: a no-code robotic automation platform that simplifies robot programming via 3D scanning and AI. Early Stage. Founded by Daryl Lim, Voon Foo Chong, and Yong Shin Leong. Deployed across automotive, electronics, and metal industries. They've raised $6.19M, with $5.73M in their latest round from Cocoon Capital and Sierra Ventures.

Voice AI

  • Respeecher: enables voice cloning for content creators by converting one person's speech into another’s voice. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Alex Serdiuk, Dmytro Bielievtsov, and Grant Reaber. Used in entertainment, gaming, and archival voice restoration. They've raised $2.5M, including $1M from Techstars and Silicon Valley Syndicate Club.
  • Romantic AI: offers customizable AI companions with voice interaction capabilities, focused on emotional and romantic engagement. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Pavel Hegai. Targets a niche between gaming, well-being, and companionship tech. They've raised $100K in their first round.
  • My Voice: delivers real-time voice recognition, speaker verification, and synthetic voice capabilities. Pre-seed / Seed. Founded by Dr. David Horowitz, Ivar Line, and Nikola Anđelić. Powers voice security and identity for enterprise and consumer apps. They've raised $6.29M, including $3.21M from ProVenture.
  • Verloop.io: builds conversational AI for automating customer support over voice and chat. Early Stage. Founded by Gaurav Singh. Serves e-commerce and financial services with NLP-powered resolution bots. They've raised $8M from Mohandas Pai, Suresh Vaswani, and others.
  • Merlyn Mind: provides an AI voice assistant tailored for classroom use, helping educators control tech hands-free. Early Stage. Founded by Satya Nitta. Focuses on improving teacher productivity through contextual, edge-deployed AI. They've raised $29M in a single round backed by Learn Capital and Noetic Fund.

Strategic Outlook

As AI-native platforms mature, they are shifting from experimental tools to core operational infrastructure across enterprises. The next phase will prioritise embedding intelligence into foundational systems—from finance and legal to manufacturing and science. Startups that offer domain-specific intelligence, seamless integration, and enterprise-grade reliability will be best positioned to lead this transition. Successful scaling will depend on three factors: clarity of use case, agentic autonomy, and interoperability with incumbent workflows.

Key Takeaways:

  • Internal AI agents will reshape enterprise ops, with platforms like SuperAGI and Alan AI leading the move from copilots to autonomous multi-step executors.
  • Verticalized AI is winning over generic models, as seen in Atomic AI (RNA drug discovery) and JADBio (bioinformatics), which embed domain knowledge directly into their architecture.
  • Voice AI is emerging as the next interface layer, especially in education, security, and field operations—evident in Merlyn Mind and My Voice’s traction.
  • Robotics software stacks are unlocking industrial deployment, with startups like Jacobi Robotics and Augmentus lowering the friction of programming and adaptation.
  • Investor momentum is backing infrastructure layers, not just flashy applications—favoring startups that build tooling, agent orchestration engines, and AI-native platforms from the ground up.

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